This relates to musical drums meant to be played with hands or sticks, and specifically a new variation, generally intended to be comprised of thin, light, flexible, strong, transparent/translucent, modern composite materials (Plastics, esp copolyesters like lexan/tritan), and being comprised of multiple nestable rings, designed to lock into a fully and/or partially extended configuration for play at one or more different pitch levels, and collapse and lock into the outermost ring for easy portability and storage, and which may be playable in seated, reclining, or standing postures, when stationary or mobile, and may be conveniently carryable via integrated dual-purpose strap-attachment-point/finger-holds, and which may be marked by a new transparent/translucent visual aesthetic in both open and closed configurations.
Drums, a form of membranophone generally comprised of a hollow resonant chamber or “shell” covered at one or both ends with a taut vibrant film or “head”, traditionally animal skin, now increasingly, synthetics such as mylar, are widely known to be among mankind's earliest prehistoric inventions. Because, by their nature, drums must enclose a relatively large volume of internal air-space and, with the exception of toy versions, have thus far been solely constructed of either metal, pottery/ceramic/clay, wood, and recently, particulate wood-fiber composites, they have always been among the most cumbersome of musical instruments.
Since as early as 1914's U.S. Pat. No. 1,113,253 to Schreiner, inventors have attempted to address the twin problems of unwieldiness and storability by creating various styles of drums featuring various forms of collapsibility. Perhaps the most common approach has been by fabricating a drum shell out of multiple annular bodies, each of lesser diameter than its predecessor, that can in some degree nest telescopically, and which can then, using various mechanisms, be extended and locked in an open configuration for play, as seen in U.S. Pat. No. 1,768,438 to Israel (SIL classified as an hourglass drum), U.S. Pat. No. 2,546,452 to Kmieliauskas (a hybrid of the cylindrical and conical styles) U.S. Pat. No. 4,455,913 to Willis (a conjoined triple Barrel Drum), and U.S. Pat. No. 7,786,364 to Natali (another cylindrical/conical hybrid). This telescoping approach has also been used to create drums capable of producing a multiplicity of pitches by playing them at different degrees of extension, such that the goals of portability/storability, and tonal versatility may be served by the same features of a single invention. This is exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 8,829,320 to Tahour (an elongated hybrid of the Cylindrical and Conical styles), in which instance tonal range is perhaps treated as primary, portability/storability as secondary.
All known prior example use a purely cylindrical shape for the annular bodies that cooperatively form their respective drum shells. As a result, no structurally significant/stabilizing friction fitting exists between successive annular bodies. Rather, each of these embodiments must rely entirely, or nearly so, upon its mechanical locking systems to stay open for play. This inherently fails to maximize stability, vibratory/tonal conduction throughout the drum shell, and prevention of unwanted residual sounds such as buzzes and/or rattles. Moreover, U.S. Pat. No. 8,829,320 suffers these additional shortcomings:                1) Perhaps in service to its goal of pitch versatility, and by an inherent limitation of it's collapsing/expanding mechanism's design, this drum remains playable in its collapsed form, and is far from being able to fit fully into the profile of its widest/topmost annular body, thus failing to maximize portability/compactness.        2) The markedly “stepped” shape of its uniformly cylindrical annular bodies give an unfamiliar acoustic dynamics/wave flow and tubular appearance quite unlike its highly contoured/smoothly tapered, non-collapsible ancestors.        
In contrast, art embodied by Collapsible Camping Cups in U.S. Pat. No. 879,753 to Eckert, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,666,329 to Charbonneau, demonstrate the effectiveness of friction-fitted sloping/conical walls to create a highly stable, water and air tight interface between annular bodies when similarly enclosing a large volume. In the context of a drum, this contoured and steady taper also imparts acoustic and visual aesthetics more in the tradition of Middle-Eastern and African hand drums. However, lacking any mechanism to secure them when collapsed, guide them smoothly through the opening/closing processes, and anchor them in place when open, such cups' annular bodies 1) rattle around within their outermost shell/housing when collapsed 2) have a sloppy/haphazard feel when carried and transitioned between open and closed configurations and 3) are easily inadvertently/prematurely collapsed. These flaws are reasonably acceptable in the use case of a camping cup. But given the rigors to which a drum is by its nature subjected, including the relentless impacts and vibrations of playing, and jostling when carried, a novel, convenient, reliable, locking and guidance system to operate in tandem with friction fitting is essential.
In addition to the foregoing, drums have historically been played either while seated, standing, walking/marching, or dancing, depending on their construction, playing techniques, and cultural role. Western marching band and latin drums, especially Snares, Tomtoms, mini-congas, and Bass drums, have been designed to accept a wide array of integrated and attachable strap and harness devices in order to allow them to be carried while in use. However, though rope-tuned drums like Africa's Dundun and Djembe are commonly outfitted with a tied-on strap or harness, and an aftermarket strap is available from Remo for use with a Doumbek, all previous incarnations of conical, hourglass, and goblet-style drums lack shell-integrated, convenient, dedicated attachment-points for this purpose. To my knowledge, the same lack is true of all previous collapsible drum designs.
Finally, all previous collapsible drums have lacked a way to thoroughly and attractively encapsulate their inner workings when closed, and to achieve quick and easy assembly/disassembly for efficient industrial fabrication and cleaning/troubleshooting/repair. This at once makes them vulnerable to malfunction through the infiltration of foreign matter into their mechanical elements, and precludes their easy and efficient restoration from same.
In conclusion, to my knowledge, no telescopically collapsible/expansible musical drum formerly developed provides maximal stability and/or portability, and/or aesthetic value, and/or dedicated in-built means to attach a strap for convenient playability and/or transport during any form of ambulation, and/or an easy means for assembly/disassembly/access for thorough cleaning and/or efficient repair and/or replacement of any of its constituent elements.